He Sets The Lonely in Families

In April of 2012 my feet touched down on West African soil for the first time. I thought I was there to do a VBS for missionary kids. And I was. And it has changed my life. 

I also went to an orphanage for the first time...and met my SON (although I didn't know he would be my son at the time!) 

But he wasn't the only kiddo that caught my heart's attention. 

I also met a sweet little girl named Dorcas. 

Today I'd like to introduce you to her. 

Look how little she was the first time I met her?!

April 2012

April 2013

2014/2015

Eating pizza!

Trying a hamburger.

Fun at the swimming pool.

Pete & Amy Riley

Dorcas is determined. I've seen her with the help of her friends at the orphanage ride a tricycle.

Dorcas is a beautiful child of God. Her smile literally lights up the room.

Dorcas is an overcomer. She has been "diagnosed" with CP. However, she doesn't let that stop her too much. Since we met her she has received a walker and learned to get around very well with it. Recently, through the help of therapy (done by an amazing volunteer missionary) she has began to learn to walk unaided. We can't imagine what she could do with professional focused therapy!

 Dorcas loves to be loved.

Dorcas needs a family.

I have to confess I put off writing this post. I am a detail person. I wanted the perfect set of pictures and description of what her skills are and her prognosis is. I wasn't sure exactly how to advocate for this precious girl. So this year our family began praying on a daily basis for Dorcas to find a family. And the Lord has burdening my heart like crazy. And so I write. Do I have all the "answers" to what life with Dorcas will look like for a family? No. But, I am confident her forever family is out there. 

Could it be you? Could it be a friend of yours who has a heart for children with special needs? Your friends who have been looking to adopt an older child? 

Dorcas is currently living in an orphanage setting. She has the amazing blessing of a missionary family (The Rileys) who are investing in her while she waits for you. They are paving the way for her to have a family by taking her swimming (fun therapy), doings exercises, exposing her to American food, taking her places outside the orphanage walls, and pouring love and affection on her. (and photographing/videoing it all for you to have!)

But, this is not a forever family. It breaks my heart that she has been waiting this long. What have I been so busy doing that I haven't written this post before? Why did I think I had to have advocacy all figured out before I began? No more.

The Lord has challenged me to do more. I am starting a fund for Dorcas. Many of you know my cupcake business Sweet 2 the Soul began as a way to bring David home. I have continued to bake and give half of everything I make to missions. For the next six months half of everything I make will go into a fund for Dorcas' future family towards their adoption expenses. 

If you'd like to hear more about what an amazing little girl Dorcas is and what day to day life with her might look like I'd be happy to put you in touch with Amy Riley. If you have questions about how to adopt from her country we've done it and would be happy to help you on that end. 

What can YOU do?

-Pray and ask God if you could be the family God has been waiting for to step out in faith and adopt Dorcas. If you are certain that isn't you then please begin praying for her forever family to be found.

-Share this post with your prayer warrior friends, your heart for adoption friends, your special needs friends. 

-Give. If God leads you to be a part of this little girl's journey I'd be happy to add your contribution to her adoption fund. You can Paypal the funds to hummy25@hotmail.com. 

Or checks can be sent to:

515 Euclid Ave

Hannibal, MO 63401

We will make sure they get to her.

I can be contacted at jenniferhumiston@hotmail.com or through Facebook. 

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6 Will you pray this promise for Dorcas right now?

Water for West Africa

Many of you probably know that our fourth child was born in West Africa. What you might not know is that God's call on our life to this area of the world has been more far reaching than that. God literally planted a love for West Africa in our hearts and gave us a living breathing daily reminder. At the same time he called us to make a commitment to visit there yearly and to advocate for the work being done there.

So far we've been able to partner with the work there by selling cupcakes to benefit a youth center being built and selling jewelry to help the Babies Without Milk Program.

I am so excited to tell you about our next project because it partners the people we love on this side of the ocean (you and our family at Calvary Baptist Church) with the people we love on the other side of the ocean and the work they are doing there through a well digging initiative.

Meet the Gebhard family.

I was able to have their youngest daughter in the VBS I planned on my very first trip. And Jeremy got to meet their older kids when he went to work with the youth last year.

They work among a people group in West Africa in David's birth country. Their primary work is that of Bible translation. One of the community development projects they are a part of is digging wells to provide clean water. 

Marc believes that clean water is important, not only because it keeps people from being sick, but also because, “Sharing clean water opens great doors to sharing living water.”

Check out these photos of past well projects:

In a tiny village of 300 or so a well crew works to turn augur bit as they work on a new well and pump for a village that never had any clean water source in their village before.

Another well project in process in for a literacy center in the forest region.

Going into night mode with the well drilling work.

This village that has had to contend with a 20 minute walk to a spring that goes dry in dry season for generations is about to have a pump in the middle of their village.

In a tiny village of 300 or so a well crew works to turn augur bit as they work on a new well and pump for a village that never had any clean water source in their village before.

Children from the village where a well was dug.

Dealing with African soil.

Don't those pictures just make you want to join in?!

Here at home I have the privilege of being part of the Family Quest lesson writing team at our church. This semester we have been studying the woman at the well. Each unit we challenge our families to engage in a service project. As part of learning about the woman at the well we challenged families to ONLY drink water for one week and to make a donation towards building wells in West Africa. You could give $.25 for each glass of clean water you enjoyed, or be even more generous!

Our family of course went all in on this because West Africa is where our heart is. We allowed our kids to drink milk at school but otherwise as a family we drank water. This challenge came at the perfect time for us. We normally don't have a lot of fun drinks at our house.  However, with it being after Christmas our fridge was stocked with Cranberry Sierra Mist (my favorite) and Kool-aid bottles the kids had gotten as a gift. It was fun to watch our kids remind us, "Only water!" when friends spent the night. We didn't have a spotless record but for the most part we stuck to our sacrifice. We enjoyed having our "treat" drinks for breakfast the day we broke our fast.

Fasting with our kids has been a huge learning experience for us as a family and one I wouldn't trade. Our kids (who whine and complain like all kids) are much more willing to sacrifice then I would have thought. I love their reminders of our commitment and I love that as we practice this discipline sacrifice won't seem so foreign to them as they grow into making their own commitments to the Lord.

Breaking our fast at breakfast.

I can't end this post without extending the opportunity to you to join in! 

Our church has set our goal of raising $7,500 towards building more wells. We'd love to have you help us. You can take the one week water only challenge (No coffee? Are you brave?!) or you can simply make a donation. 

As a Calvary Baptish Church member simply put a check in the offering plate with Wells for West Africa in the memo line. 

For far away friends who are interested in contributing to the Gebhard's Village Wells fund, you may send a donation made out to Pioneer Bible Translators (make sure to write village wells on the memo line) to:

PBT-Gebhard

P.O. Box 10184

Terre Haute, IN 47801

or simply click here to donate online. On the drop down menu choose Projects. Then choose Gebhard  Village Well Drilling

If you'd like to teach your kiddos more about the need for clean water this is a great video. While this video is not linked specifically to this project its a great tool for understanding the need for clean water in Africa.

If you'd like to read a first hand account of why Marc thinks the need for clean water is greater now than ever before due to the current health crisis in West Africa you can read his post "Water to Wash."

Trusting the Lord to amaze us as we labor together for his work in West Africa!

Owen Rowland-A Legacy of Faith

As I’ve sat with family and friends over the last few days and reminisced I know that my Popo will be remembered well. In a long life lived well there are all sorts of memories.

You might remember Chink as a dependable mailman.
When he delivered the mail for over 40 years the mail was delivered right. Even in snowstorms there were very few days the mail didn’t go out.Those on his route appreciated him by leaving special treats in their mailboxes for him at Christmas time.

You might remember Chink as a man of hobbies.
He loved to hunt. He loved to bowl. He loved to fish. Way back in the day even hand fishing in Bear Creak. And then fish fries with Dorothy’s potato salad. Later in his life he loved to trap shoot. And he was good at it! Momo remembers he won at least 3 guns. He also loved sports. Sports were on the tv often. He enjoyed going to see his family’s sporting events throughout the years. He also loved to play cards. Over the years many hands of “pitch” were played but inevitably Popo and Wayne would shoot the moon on Momo and Dot and end up winning.

Chances are you might remember a funny story about Chink.
One of his favorites to tell was about Momo was when the tractor was on fire. He was hollering and she thought he said, “Hit the dirt!” So there she was on the ground. But he had been yelling, “Throw dirt!” But Momo has her own story to laugh at Popo. She remembers the time he went to the cemetery as a pall bearer in the rain and grabbed her rain jacket instead of his. Apparently he was quite the site!

You might remember Chink as the only “Popo” you knew.
As a grandfather he left many memories for his grandchildren. Spending the night at Popo and Momo’s house was the best. Getting to help deliver the mail, slow bike rides in the country, helping reload shells in the basement, going on the river in the boat to fish, teaching the boys how to hunt and handle a gun right, doing chores together, watching Tom & Jerry after school, and eating popcorn.

You might remember Chink as a man of service.
He was faithful to serve his church. If the doors were open he and his family were there. Years ago in the old church basement helping make 100’s of gallons of ice cream to raise funds for the church. Over the years he served as a deacon, an elder, chairman of the board, and even the Sunday School secretary. (Or as us kids remember it, the bell ringer.) Many communion table prayers always began with, “Gracious heavenly father.”

When I remember him I think of gum on his glass, I think of getting quiet when the phone rang, I think of a dog in his lap, and his silver Bible case with the cross. I think about the daily mealtime prayer, “God again we bow our head and thank you for our daily bread. Amen.” And I can’t remember Popo & Momo’s house without Popo’s chair. It was an establishment. With his mail, cattle magazines, the tv remote, and a stash of cookies he often shared.

He left a lifetime of wonderful memories.

But that is not the most precious thing he left us. He left us a legacy.

Webster defines legacy as something handed down from an ancestor. What has Owen Rowland handed down to us?

I would say more than anything he has handed down his faith in Jesus Christ.

I will never forget the first Christmas Eve my husband Jeremy spent with me. We were engaged and we’d been talking a lot about our future marriage and what legacy we wanted to start for our future family. When we got in the car he looked at me and said, “That is what I want our legacy to be.” I want to be Pop-o and Mom-o. Someday I want to be serving communion to our entire family. I want to be surrounded by children and grandchildren who know and love the Lord.

Chink was a man who loved the Lord and lived what he believed. He was the same on Sunday as he was the rest of the week. He faithfully read his Bible, served his church, and taught Biblical principles in his home.

This past Christmas Eve God gave us a special gift. Popo was once again able to attend Christmas Eve service. He was able to greet old friends and see many of his church family he had been missing.  And my daughter Grace (Popo’s great granddaughter) was able to take communion with our family for the first time as a new Christian.

To me communion on Christmas Eve will always be a picture of Popo’s legacy. His faith lived out in us his family. When we asked Mom-o what the one thing she and Pop-o wanted for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren it was that we know the Lord.

The lyrics from this song entitled, “Legacy” seem so fitting.

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile
To make a lengthly list of all that I enjoy
It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile
Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

I want to leave a legacy, how will they remember me?
Did I choose to love? Did I point to you enough
To make a mark on things? I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who blessed your name
Unapologetically and leave that kind of legacy

Not well traveled, not well read
Not well-to-do or well bred
I just want to hear instead
"Well done good and faithful one"

Popo was a man who loved, who pointed to Christ, and who unapologetically left a legacy of faith.  I have no doubt he has heard those precious words, “Well done good and faithful one.”

May it someday be said of us as well.